NEWS

March 23, 2011

RSU Public Television to Present ‘Healthcare and Future Generations'

A diverse panel will discuss the views of the Affordable Care Act at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 24, on Rogers State University Public Television. The program will be rebroadcast at 5 p.m. Sunday, March 27.

The hour-long program, "Healthcare and Future Generations," produced by RSU Public TV, will discuss the case for reform, the provisions of the Affordable Care Act and critique the new law.

Jeff Gentry, professor and head of RSU's Department of Communications, is the producer and host.

The program's panel includes Michael Todd, M.D., the director of the Alaska Bariatric Center in Anchorage and specialist in both hand surgery and weight-loss surgery; Sunshine Cowan, Ph.D, assistant professor at the University of Central Oklahoma and coordinator of the Community Health Program; and David Blatt, co-founder and director of the Oklahoma Policy Institute.

According to Gentry, the panel holds diverse views of the Affordable Care Act. "In our polarized culture, you never see these people in the same room together unless it's with a caustic host presiding over a verbal foot fight," Gentry said. "Although we will provide analysis and arguments, this show promises more light than heat."

"The U.S. is a prosperous country. Despite recent setbacks, we enjoy the largest economy in the world. But rich doesn't necessarily mean healthy. In life-expectancy, we rank only 23rd despite spending the most money on healthcare per-capita," Gentry said.

Last year Gentry produced and hosted the programs "Are All Politicians Liars?" and "America the Ignorant?" on RSU Public TV.

RSU Public Television is licensed to Rogers State University and is the only public TV station operated by a university in Oklahoma. The station, based on the RSU campus in Claremore, reaches more than one million people within a 75-mile radius of the campus. RSU Public TV broadcasts on digital channel 35.1 and 35.2, Tulsa and Claremore cable channel 19, Cable Channel 4 in Bartlesville and satellite channel 35 across northeastern Oklahoma.